Doom 4 beta access packed with Wolfenstein: The New Order pre-orders

Leading to one inescapable conclusion: Doom 4 still exists!

Solid information about the next game in the storied Doom franchise remains scarce, even though we're now nearing ten years since the release of Doom 3 and approaching six years since the official announcement of Doom 4. (We've also passed 20 years since the original Doom was released). That lack of information isn't stopping publisher Bethesda Softworks from using the game as a sales booster, though; it's tying access to an upcoming Doom beta test to pre-orders of another id franchise reboot, Wolfenstein: The New Order.

The company has posted an FAQ regarding the surprise pre-order beta bonus, but it doesn't provide answers to any actually relevant questions. Missing in action are details like when the beta will take place, what platforms it will be on, or, um, any details about what the game will look or play like (I'm guessing casual cooking simulation, personally). The FAQ can't even tell us whether or not there will be a separate, open beta for the game outside of the pre-order access, though it does warn that "the only current way to ensure access is through pre-ordering Wolfenstein: The New Order."

Still, the pre-order bonus is a sign that development on a new Doom game is still going forward inside Bethesda, and that the project is close enough to done to start promising a beta test in the nebulous future. But it's not a forgone conclusion given the troubled development history of Doom 4 thus far. One more semi-interesting tidbit: all the promotional materials for this pre-order bonus refer to the game simply as "the Doom beta" and not specifically as Doom 4, suggesting a renumbering/re-branding may be in the works.

Wolfenstein: The New Order is set to release May 20 in North America and May 23 in Europe for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PC.

So Bethesda is trying to garner interest in a game no one seems particularly excited about (I had forgotten it existed) by packaging a beta invitation to a game that may or may not actually be released at some point in the future?

Didn't we already do a Wolfenstein reboot? And wasn't it remarkably "meh"? I hope that both franchises can remake themselves to become relevant again. Doom is a classic game, but by the third installment, it was just more of the same with pretty graphics.

Wow... even as a 34 year old now, and even when I really don't expect a game as incredible as the first ones, and even when I'm trying to calm down myself, my mind is already running in circles reapiting only "OMG! OMG! OMG!" I'm preordering this

With Carmack gone, Doom 3/Quake 4 being pretty bland, and just being sick of this "PLEASE PAY TO TEST OUR BUGGY PRODUCTS" attitude from publishers, I'm not really jumping at this the way I would have years ago.

So Bethesda is trying to garner interest in a game no one seems particularly excited about (I had forgotten it existed) by packaging a beta invitation to a game that may or may not actually be released at some point in the future?

RtCW was the precursor to the greatest online game ever (IMHO) ->Enemy Territory. I spent huge amounts of hours wrapped up in that game and was the only game where I felt motivated enough to actually join a clan. I hope they can recapture some of that simple yet elegant MP in the new version. Yeah, and some old school DOOM would be nice too. Running into a room where you could get all the demons to kill each other then saunter back in after the mayhem was sorely missing from Doom 3

Either I don't understand the meaning of "reboot" or Wikipedia is wrong as it list the plot of Wolfenstein: The New Order as following that of Wolfenstein (2009) which is a sequel of Return to Castle Wolfenstein (2001).

What I'd REALLY like is for someone with skills and time to remake the 3 classic Doom episodes in the SSE3 engine.

There is a whole store's worth of software that could get the treatment. Falcon 3.0, Tornado, System Shock, Descent, Alone in the Dark to name just a few. Use the same underlying mechanics and just slap a new coat of graphics paint on them. I suspect there must be some serious effort to go from the old C/Assembler rendered graphics to the DX/OGL systems. Otherwise, you'd think it woudl be done more often for a quick nostaliga buck.

Why do that when you can just post your beta game on Steam and make folks pay full-price to beta-test it anyways?

In fact, all Bethesda / Zenimax games can now officially get away with being bug-riddled messes. They just go up as "early access", you pay $60, and they just keep bug-fixing until they get tired of it and consider it "complete".

Win-win ... for them anyways.

Until I hear about another Fallout or Elder Scrolls (single player or co-op, NOT online), I'm really not interested in anything they're doing.

Kyle Orland / Kyle is the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica, specializing in video game hardware and software. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He is based in Pittsburgh, PA.